“Many of these photographs are free from copyright restrictions or licensed under creative commons public domain dedication. This means you can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. However, some photos may require attribution.

We’ve done our best to identify which license they fall under but we still advise you to do your own research and determine how these images can be used.” (emphasis my own).

No thanks, who has time? So much for “free!”

I did, however, open a free Unsplash account. While the images are free and stunning, they are not searchable. Subscribers get 10 new photos a week. I downloaded a few, not sure if I will use them on my blog. I’m an educator, so I feel comfortable using these images for my power point presentations, since they are not being published on my website.

Snappa Blog’s article states “All photos on Unsplash are released under the creative commons public domain license.”

A lot of “lawyer-speak” here about Creative Commons public domain licensing. This is tricky business as a growing number of lawsuits are pending for copyright infringement violations of intellectual property.

A graphic artist friend, who is in this business, said this is the new, trending lawsuit. Other bloggers have described their terrible experiences of innocently using a random photo on their blog post and being sued.
Even posting the following so-called disclaimer on your blog is basically useless.

“This blog claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog belong to their respective owners. If there is an image on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please e-mail us with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.”

I still read wonderful posts from a LOT of bloggers using photos and images from the Internet. Most of these likely have copyright restrictions, so please BEWARE if you choose to use them. If you use images from the web, be careful. It is obvious that most of these images are professionally photographed.

Exercise extreme caution in using Google Images on your blog or website. Most images you see on Google are attached to someone’s blog post or business. Unless you get express permission to use those images, do not use them.

You may have heard of Creative Commons licensed images. Understand that although photo sites curate a host of images, not all of them are free, and some have restrictions on commercial use.

According to author Helen Sedwick, in her eBook, How to Use Eye-Catching Images Without Paying a Fortune or a Lawyer,“Do not rely on a Creative Commons license if there are recognizable faces, artwork, or trademarks in the image.”

Sedwick continues with this warning, “Creative Commons sites do not guarantee that they have the right to give you permission to use the image at all. You are using the images at your own risk.”

Again, what may appear to be free is not.

Even acknowledging the image’s origin may not be good enough. Most of us do not make money with our blogs, and having to pay upwards to $8000 for misuse of an image can be tragic.

By now you are saying “OK, I get it! How can I get quality images that are truly free?”

Why, thanks for asking!

But first…

A few months ago, I came across Gigi, a blogger who shares her own images in her weekly newsletters and on her website at A Warm Hello. She creates free, ready images for anyone who would like to download them. I am sure she would appreciate you visiting her site and subscribing.

But, back to the FREE images…

From her blog I got the idea of sharing my own images with other bloggers.

I have taken thousands of photos over the years and I am happy to share a variety of them with anyone who is interested.

I feel very strongly about this endeavor and would be comforted to know my fellow bloggers aren’t going to lose money in a random lawsuit over copyright violations.

This post serves as my announcement that FREE images really are available. No sign-ups, no passwords to remember, no gimmicks.

Current folders include landscapes, flowers, animals, cityscapes and general office. Visit on a regular basis for new folders and photos added weekly.

The images are untouched and un-edited. It will be your job to select and download them, then edit them using is a free online image editor. Many bloggers use Canva. I use the premium version of PicMonkey, but their free version works just fine!

Fellow blogger DG Kaye recently shared this post about Fotojet. I haven’t tried this one yet, as I am happy with PicMonkey. The point is to find an online image editor that works for you.

I sincerely hope that you will take a look at the photos I have to offer. Let me know in the comments what kinds of photos you need for your blog…I may have what you need!

This is fantastic, Terri. I am so careful about images. I buy images on depositphotos.com, download free images from pixabay or use my own. I am paranoid about being sued. I did use one from Flickr but was so paranoid about the legalese I reached out to the photographer to be certain it was okay to use and edit. I love PicMonkey too and use the premium version. I’m sure there are better ones but I can understand this one and seems pretty easy for me. Thanks so much for sharing your fantastic images!

I remember when I first read about this in your book how it made me sit up and take notice! Thank you so much for this generous offer, I have bookmarked the page for future use. I buy the pictures I use for book covers, on can never be too careful on that front.

The types of photos I find difficult to access are:
1. Unpleasant emotions, such as sadness or anger, etc., expressed by a woman
2. Religious ideas and depictions of Bible accounts
3. Flat pics of desks that have no computer or smart phone in them. Typewriter or old black telephone okay!

Thank you, Terri, for so graciously sharing your photos. I kept wondering why you would do this other than being a completely altruistic person, and am glad I read your explanation to Marsha. Obviously you need to make money with your photos, but sharing the outtakes makes sense. Thanks also to you and your well informed other readers for all the info about the risks of using photos that aren’t in public domain. I’ve tried to use only those from Google listed as free for use, and even then, I avoid photos attributed to specific sites or photographers.

I’m a decent artist and at one time thought I’d paint an image to go along with each article, but that isn’t going to happen. I’m not a photographer – I don’t even own a camera, so my own photos are naught but a dream. Your site is a dream come true for folks like me.

I think it’s safe to post the covers of published books (as when I’m writing a review) and I always acknowledge the publishing company. If you know I’m wrong, please say so.

Hi Sharon, thanks for your lovely comment! I’m a hobby photographer and wouldn’t plan to sell the pics. It is so easy to Google a random photo to go with your blog post’s subject…heck I did that in the beginning. The lawsuits are getting ridiculous for intellectual property, so caution is warranted. You are wise! I would think most self-published authors would be happy someone shared their cover image. Always good to ask. Please use the images, I would be honored!

Terri this is so generous of you. I am not a great photographer, but I do carefully check the Creative Commons license and give an attribution as necessary. Your photos are lovely and I would love to use some. Of course I would give you credit!

Got your ebook a few months ago. It was very informative and since then I have been trying to make a larger effort to use my own personal photos. You are right what excuse do we really have when we carry a smart phone with a camera everywhere. I really appreciate your generosity in sharing your personal stock photo collection.

I try not to use photos from other sources (other than Canva,) for the very reasons you mention. Though, a very kind lady Samantha Murdoch has made an exception and agreed for me to use her son’s photos of cats and crystals on my blog. Thank you so much for your kind offer, will certainly take a look at your free images. 🙂

How wonderful of you! New options. I have downloaded a few that I may find useful to illustrate a few topics on which I write. THANK YOU.

NOT a photographer myself, I have pretty much avoided photos in favor of “totally free clipart” since I began blogging – for many of the reasons cited above and mentioned in a few comments. If I charged for my content (or some millionaire adopted me) I’d have NO quarrels with paying for illustrations – only fair, after all. But it is simply not in my budget to incur costs to give away my expertise as well as my time.

When I first began blogging, years ago, I trolled the ‘net downloading images I was fairly certain I would use, and wasn’t as careful tracking attribution as I am now. So some of my articles don’t have links to sources. EVEN when attribution is not requested or required, I think it’s sad – stingy, even, that people don’t send a little link-love in return – so I do it now whenever possible – especially when I don’t “have to.”

Awww, so cool!!! I’m so excited that you did this! I love that you use DropBox for your photos! So easy to add new ones that way and so easy for people downloading. What a great idea! And, I love that you have categorized your photos. Thank you so much for mentioning A Warm Hello in your post! You are too kind—- You’ve inspired me to start thinking more about categories of photos! Woo hoo!

I am all for sharing and often do myself, actually I think I may have posted something similar offering fellow bloggers the opportunity to use some of mine. Really I just wanted to point out there are professional photographers ( such as myself) actually trying to make a living out of photography, stock images being a part of that, sales have diminished horribly in recent years, am not criticizing your post and actually like the idea of sharing within a community, just wanted to emphasize the use of images without checking its source or credit, its actually theft, and to spare a thought for those poor hungry souls who thought photography was actually a career 🙂
Cheers
Johnhttps://johnwreford.wordpress.com/

Hi John, you make excellent points here! With so many bloggers trying to add decent and “free” images to their blogs, it must be difficult to sell images. Seems like photo sites like Unsplash and others ask for photographers to donate their images. That in itself makes selling images a tough market. I’m a proponent of taking my own images, even buying a decent camera to make this hobby a little more serious. Thanks for your thought-provoking comments!

Terri, I still can’t believe you did this. I’m so impressed. I think we should all do something like this. I’m sure I have thousands of photos I’ll never use, some of which are excellent. hehehe. The problem is taking the time to cull through them all, which you have done. “Good on ya,” as they say in Australia. 🙂 With your permission, I’ll reblog this on tchistorygal.wordpress.com next week, probably the 7th. I’d also like to repost it adding an intro and links to your blog on Always Write on Feb. 17.

Oh that is so cool, Marsha! Thank you very much! What made it easy to share photos was there are duplicates of ones I have already used that were still good quality! And I got to clean out my camera uploads file in Dropbox (which I need to do again, since I just uploaded a new batch with my camera 🙂 I will look forward to your shout outs, Marsha!

Thanks for another a great post about the copyright of images and photos, Terri. After reading your book, I spent 2 days deleting photos, images and blogs posts because I was not entirely sure they were free to use.

I now use all my own images (using Canva) and photos. Like you, I have hundreds of photos and I never seem to have a problem in finding something for a new blog post.

I still come across many blog posts that use images and photos from the web with links that don’t go anywhere. Same goes, as you rightly told me recently, for adding song lyrics to posts.

So very kind of you to offer the free photos as well. I may well take your kind offer up.

I’m glad you took that advice! I still have to go a few posts and remove the google images I used at the beginning of my blogging career. Because of the various photo challenges, I became convinced that taking my own photos was really the only way to go. Happy to share mine with anyone who is interested.

Terri, what a terrific post. You covered the gamut here. And you’re so right, there are many sites that offer free images but have a lot of mumbo jumbo to sift through and by that time I’m not feeling like I know everything and don’t bother. Although I do use some from Pixabay. But I’ve also began making my own with, formerly shareasimage.com where I bought a lifetime licence to photo edit with their photos, and they’ve recently been bought out by getstencil.com and gratefully my licence is still valid with them.
Thanks for your generous offer to use your photos, and for mentioning my post. I shall definitely take a look at your photos when in need and of course attribute YOU. 🙂 ❤

Thanks, Terri – I fully agree with your other readers — this is incredibly generous of you! Although I am not a photographer, I have always used my own photos for my blog (unless creating a heading on Canva…and crediting the source). I have often seen other bloggers take images off of the internet…with their photos looking very impressive! Reading this post has made me relieved that I have continued with my own photos. I am off to check out your photos now!

Thank you so much for this! I usually use my own photos, but sometimes I need an image I can’t produce myself. I used Photobucket for a while, but it is so cluttered with adverts now that the images take too long to load. I will certainly be checking out your photos! 🙂

I prefer to use my own images too. It’s fun and allows me to exercise my creative side. But, my blog is a personal story so it’s probably easier for me to do that than it would be for someone who writes about business-focused or other non-personal subjects. When I started out, though, I did use a few images that I got off the internet. Thanks for the prompt to delete those. A lawsuit would be most unpleasant 😨 . Nice of you to offer your images to those who don’t have their own!

Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
I use free 123RF Stock Photos, as well as having an Unsplash account, for my blog posts, but even if they are ‘free for use’ I try to establish who has the copyright and attribute the images to them.
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES, should “free” photos or images be used to make book covers – either buy the licence to use, or, take / make your own as Terri recommends 🐵

Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
This is a goldmine for bloggers.. Terri Webster Schrandt is offering us all access to her thousands of photographs she has taken over the years to use FREE.. This is an amazing offer and one I will certainly be taking advantage of.. Please head over and read the entire post as it does contain important information on copyright of photos you use from the web or allegedly free sources.. Also might I suggest that as I will do.. you credit Terri when you do use her photographs. Thanks Terri.. brilliant.

Wow, Terri. That is incredibly gracious of you. I’m sure many bloggers will appreciate it! As for me, like you, I enjoy taking lots of photos and have thousands myself. The hardest thing is finding them in my archives. It might be easier to check your folders. 🙂

How extremely fabulous of you, Terri!!
i bookmarked the page and will add it to my list if and when I need some other photos. As a fashion blogger, I end up taking most of our outfit shots ourselves, but there’s that occasional post that I do need a great photo for and it’s nice not to worry about infringement!!
jodiehttp://www.jtouchofstyle.com

I could probably gain some new information, I will try and get it read. The images on my blog are all my own. When I learn my caregiver was sending me images from Footbook ,I stopped using them. I don’t put people faces on the internet unless I have premission. Thanks for sharing .

A Little Bit About Me

I am a leisure educator (university adjunct faculty), self-published author, and retired recreation and parks practitioner living in Northern California. Second Wind Leisure Perspectives is my blog about living a leisure lifestyle.